Mr. Montag Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer and head of the firm’s investment bank, made more than his boss for the third straight year in 2012, according to regulatory documents filed Thursday.

Brian Moynihan, chief executive of the nation’s second-largest bank by assets, was awarded $12 million in cash and stock for 2012, a year in which the company’s share price more than doubled and net income jumped 189% to $4.19 billion. Mr. Montag, 56, received $14.5 million in cash and stock, according to the filing.

The payouts underscore Mr. Montag’s perceived importance to the Charlotte, N.C., company, which has relied heavily on income generated by the securities business he heads to offset losses in the mortgage unit formerly known as Countrywide Financial Corp.

"Mr. Montag led our global banking and markets businesses through challenging economic periods, delivering solid revenues," the bank said in its annual proxy filing. The company said Mr. Montag "developed and launched a number of successful initiatives" to boost income and improve the bank’s loan business.

Mr. Montag declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

The pay package is noteworthy because Mr. Montag hoped to be considered as a replacement for the bank’s former chief executive, Kenneth Lewis, when Mr. Lewis abruptly announced his departure in 2009. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Mr. Lewis had warned directors that Mr. Montag might quit if the job went to Mr. Moynihan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Montag is well known on Wall Street for his brusque manner and for his penchant for memorable expressions rendered electronically.

When Mr. Lewis announced he was stepping down, Mr. Montag wrote “WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” in an email to colleagues.

The former Goldman Sachs Group executive also had his emails picked apart in 2010 by Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) at Senate subcommittee hearings on Goldman’s actions in the financial crisis.

A deal known as Timberwolf “was one s--- deal,” Mr. Montag wrote in a June 2007 email that Mr. Levin returned to repeatedly. The email referred to a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation created by Goldman that was cut to junk status just a year later. His name appeared 105 times in documents released by a Senate panel investigating Goldman’s behavior in the run-up to the financial crisis.

It’s not unheard of for CEOs to make less than some key executives. At J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., several of Chief Executive James Dimon’s subordinates earned more than him for 2012, including the co-head of the corporate and investment bank, Daniel Pinto. Mr. Dimon had his pay cut by 50% in 2012 due to the London “whale” trading fiasco.